Apologies for not posting earlier...my intro for the studio program document

On a narrow parcel of land, bordered on the North and South by the NCRR tracks/Oakland avenue and Lee street, and on the East and West by South Aycock street and Tate street, exists our opportunity. It is here that our 4th year studio has focused its attention, investigating and analyzing the context of the site through the study and understanding of the master plans proposed by both the City of Greensboro and the University of North Carolina – Greensboro. We see the railroad tracks and Lee street, not as social, physical, or economic boundaries, but as a immeasurable prospects for design and for improving the quality of life in the area beyond what it is and what it represents to citizens today. While working inward from the urban scale, we’ve also been working out-word by programming a mixed-use architectural building to be placed strategically as the face of UNCG on the southern entrance to campus. Our simultaneous studies draw inspiration for each other and for our eventual proposals for the new architecture building.

This document is a culmination of several areas of focus. As mentioned before, this book is first and foremost a programming document to aid our design teams challenge the status quo of an institutional architecture building. The Gatewood Studio Arts building, our current building, was the first item investigated. Having experienced the building ourselves, we were able to identify both the positive and negative aspects regarding offices, classrooms, studios, etc. Using this information in conjunction with construction drawings and the program document compiled for the building as an example to work from, we were able to set our own guidelines (listed further in this book) for the design team proposals.

The Gatewood building was not the only building we studied. To help the studio understand what other architecture schools had or hadn’t done before us, we performed several precedent studies. These studies served as real comparisons to our own building and to what we think an architecture building should be. From the adjacency of program spaces and the general aesthetic of the building in relation to the campus in which it exists, to the size of the student body served by the building, the information gathered not only helped us add and subtract program spaces, but also made the studio look into the varying ways in which previous architects had approached the design of. These studies will also fortify the foundation of this book for which the design teams plan to use to formulate their own solutions for a new architecture building on campus.

Our site serves as crossroad for several governing entities, more specifically the city of Greensboro and UNC Greensboro, among others. After disseminating the city’s Lee Street corridor plan and the University’s master campus plan, the studio was able to draw it’s own conclusions about land usage for our purposes with regards to the new architecture building proposals. The site will be a part of both the city and the university, serving the community on many different levels and layers. The site analysis included in this book will aid design teams in not only meeting the minimum expectations set forth in the plans laid out by the city and university, but also potentially exceeding them.

We are excited with the challenge presented before us and are looking forward to soaring into the design process. Perhaps we might be able to turn a few heads with our ideas….